Loading attachment for trucks



Nov. 22, 1949 F. BISZANTZ ETAL LOADING ATTACHMENT FOR TRUCKS Filed March15. 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet l JNVENTOR." fired 5/520/7/3 4% By A/"f/n/r H.Kurfi Nov. 22, 1949 TZ ET AL 2,488,657

Lemme ATTACHMENT FOR TRUCKS Filed March 15, 1948 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 H FF b N M A TTORNEYS F. BISZANTZ ET AL LOADING ATTACHMENT FOR TRUCKS Nov.22, 1949 Filed March 15, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 5 a 5 WU Mm fiw m W may aM h J F Nov. 22, 1949 F. BIS ZANTZ ETAL' LOADING ATTACHMENT FOR TRUCKS 4Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 15, 1948 Patented Nov. 22, 1949 LOADINGATTACHMENT FOR TRUCKS Fred Biszantz and Arthur H. Ruth, Galion, Ohio,

assignors to Hercules. Steel Products Corporation, Galion,0hi,o, acorporation of Ohio Ap lication March 15, 1948, Serial No. 14,996

Cla ms- This invention relates to vehicle loaders and is particularlydirected to a device which is capable of attachment to a standard dumptruck body with a minimum of change necessary to the original body.

It has heretofore been the practice in municie. palities to collectrefuse in open-body trucks, by loading over the sides, or, by the samehand-load: ing method, using bodies having hinged or sliding covers, or,into closed bodies having mechanical loaders built into them. For thispurpose various loaders have been designed into which the refuse isdumped and later carried intermittently to the interior of the body. Inevery instance with which we are familiar the loader is an integral partof the body mechanism and cannot be dis-.- connected torender the bodyusable for another purpose than refuse collection. .Also, the cost ishigh and often prohibitive. Further, most of the present loaders rely ongravity alone to distribute the refusematerial in the body so that veryloose packing of the material results.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a refuseloader which overcomes all of the above disadvantages and whichcomprises an inexpensive attachment to a standard closed-top or open-topdump body which may be easily detached Another object of the inventionis to provide a continuously operating loader attachment which will packrefuse material into the body under pressure.

Still another object of the invention is to pro.-. vide a loader havinga low receiving chute or hopper so that the work required to introducematerial into an associated truck is appreciably reduced.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following description of a preferred form of the invention,reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is afragmentary side elevation of .a truck having a refuseloading attachment constructed in accordance with the present invention;Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a loader in its detached position and afragmentary side view of an associated truck; Fig. 3 is a rear view of atruck equipped to receive the loading attachment of the presentinvention, the view being a section on line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is afragmentary top plan view, with parts broken away of a truck and loader;Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view, with parts .in section, of a suitableloader drivi connection; Fig. 6 is a rear el v t on. wi h parts brokenaway, of a loader attached to a truck; and Fig. 7 is a partial sectionon line l1 of Fig. 6.

According to the present invention, the truck used to haul refusemay beany conventional dump type, preferably provided with a suitable cover.The truck is thus not limited to the use of refuse collection'aione, butmay also be of service in any other manner, as for the hauling ofarticles or materials which do not require a continuously operatingloader.

In the drawings, the truck is designated generally T, and is shown onlyfragmentarily. It is assumed that it is provided with a conventionaldump body and that a power take-01f shaft I0 extends rearwardly from thetransmission to terminate in a suitable clutch II. This may be a slipclutch only and is used to protect the loading machinery in case somelarge piece of refuse jams or stops the equipment before getting intothe body. This. form of clutch is not operable by hand. The truck driverin the cab will engage or disengage the power by connecting ordisconnecting the conventional power take-off drive gear. If desired, aspeed reducer unit l2 may follow the clutch in the power train.

The truck T is modified only by altering the usual tail gate to providea rear body member l5 having a central loading port it which may beclosed by a sliding gate ll guided in upper and lower tracks [8 andmoved by a handle I9. Pref.- erably the gate is disposed inside the bodyand handle is projects through a slot in the rear body member. A flangeor lip extension 20 surrounds the loading port It and receives theloader dis charge as hereinafter described.

A winch shaft 22 extends laterally of the upper end of the modified tailgate, and is journalled in bearings 24 at each side of the loading portand at the side of the body in a bearing 26'. The shaft 22 is providedwith an operating crank28. and a ratchet and pawl mechanism ti? preventsthe shaft from turning inadvertently in the wrong direction.

The loader attachment preferably comprises a housing ii} to which areattached legs 2 and Mi. by which the device is supported when not inuse. The conformation of the legs is such that the front of the loaderis tilted upwardly when resting on the ground asshown in Fig. 2. Asuitable cross bar 56 extends between the legs 42 and is or is otherwisedisposed to be received in spaced supports 58 and to extendingrearwardiy from the truck frame F.

The loader is attached to the truck by resting the cross bar it insuitable recesses 52 in the easiest? spaced support arms 48 and 50, andsubsequently engaging suitable fastening elements. The support arms maybe permanently attached to the truck frame, or they may be madedetachable, at the selection of the truck owner. The weight of theloader is thus carried principally by the supporting arms. To move theloader into attached position the truck is backed toward the loaderuntil the arms 48 and 50 are in position to receive the cross bar 46when the loader is tilted forwardly on its legs 42 and 44. The loaderbody is then tilted towards the truck by attaching cables 56 to suitableeyes 58 on the loader and taking up on the cables by turning the winchshaft 22. As the loader tilts forwardly, the support arms are engaged,and continued movement raises the rear of the loader from the ground andbrings the entire device to the attached position shown in Fig. 1. Tohold the loader in position, spaced latches 6B are provided on the tailgate on each side of the loading opening which engage keepers 62 on theloader body. When the latches are in engaged position, winch cables 56may be released if desired or may be left in the coupled position, sinceno tension in the cables is required to maintain the loader in itsproper relation to the truck.

Once the loader has been raised and attached to the truck a powerconnection is established to the power take-off shaft I through speedreducer l2 as indicated in Fig. 5. As there shown the speed reducer l2has an output shaft 64 which is splined to receive a mating drive member66 which has a universal driving connection 68 with a longitudinallyflexible driving connection 10. The connection 10 consists of aninternal and external splined drive unit, the internal member llcomprising a short shaft around which is disposed a spring 12 workingagainst a shoulder 14 and against the external portion of the drivingconnection 10. A holding pin 15 crosses laterally of the connection 10and works in a space out longitudinally in one side of internal member Il This pin is permanently in place and the cutout space in part II doesnot extend to the end. The purpose of the pin is thus to allow theassembly to be extensible but still to be held together whendisconnected from speed reducer l2.

Shaft H enters a second universal driving joint H which is attached toone end of a conveyor drive shaft 18. Referring to Fig. 1 it will beseen that shaft 18 extends laterally of the loader housing 40 and isjournalled at the front and rear of this housing in suitable bearings80-432. The shaft extends rearwardly of the rear bearing 82 and carriesdriving sprockets adjacent each of the two bearing points as well as atits rear end. The driving sprockets are designated 8 l 83, and 85 andsprockets 8|, 83 engage driving chains 86, 88 which are disposed at thefront and rear of a paddle type conveyor as shown in Fig. 6. Provisionhas been made for sliding bearings 80 and 82 in order to establish theproper tension in driving chains 86 and 88 which are associated with thepaddle conveyor. The bearing blocks 80 and 82 are carried on slides 81and 8'!A which are mounted in spaced guides 89 and 9! and are adapted tobe moved in the guides by adjusting screws 93 and 93-A. One end of eachof the adjusting screws is fixed to the slide and its opposite end ispassed through an opening in a fixed plate 91 and engages nut 99 so thatif the nut is adjusted the position of the slides in their guides ischanged and the total path of the chains 86 and 88 lengthened orshortened. The paddle conveyor operates vertically in housing 40 and isadapted to carry material from the bottom of the housing to a point atthe top thereof where it is dumped by the paddles through an opening 90.The housing 40 is provided with an interior partition 92 over which thepaddle conveyor operates and which serves to confine the conveyedmaterial to the space ahead of the separate paddles which are designated94 in Fig. 6.

Material is loaded into the paddle conveyor by a chute 96 which is openat its top, the opening being at a conveniently low height above thestreet so that it is .not necessary to lift containers more than waistheight to dump them into the chute and hence into the loader.

As previously stated the paddle conveyor carries the material to anopening 90 in a cylindrical transverse housing 98 in which is disposed ascrew conveyor I00. The screw conveyor is driven by a chain I02 fromsprocket and from an upper sprocket I04 at the rear of the screwconveyor. The screw extends forwardly into a tunnel extension I06 of thehousing 98 which extension nests into the lip extension 20 surroundingthe loading opening I6 in the tail gate. Material dumped into theopening is thus conveyed forwardly into the truck body and, if the topof the body is closed, may be packed therein under considerable pressureso that the total load which may be carried by the truck is increasedover the amount that could be carried loosely packed.

The lower portion of the cylindrical housing 98 which contains the screwconveyor is perforated so that liquid which may be expressed from thematerial during loading drops into an interior tank formed by partition92 extended. Liquid may at will, be drained from the bottom of thistank, through pipes provided front and rear, into any sewer manhole. Thetotal load is diminished by eliminating the necessity of carrying theentrained liquid. It will also be seen that the load is drier and willburn far more readily in an incinerator.

In operation, after the loader has been attached to the truck aspreviously described, its weight is carried in the cross-bar 46 and itis held in position by latches 60. The loader is then set in operationby the truck driver shifting into engagement the power take-off gearwhich drives shaft ID from the truck engine. Power is then taken fromthe engine to drive both the paddle conveyor through shaft 18 and thescrew conveyor I30 through chain I 02 and sprocket I04. Material maythen be dumped into chute 96 where it will be picked up by the paddles94 and carried upwardly to be discharged through opening 90 above thescrew conveyor Hill. The material is then carried forwardly by the screwconveyor and delivered into the truck body, When thetruck is full andpacked to capacity it is driven to the point of discharge, the loaderreleased by disengaging latches 86 from their keepers and lowering theconveyor by means of the winch after disconnecting the power shaft. Thetruck may then be dumped in the ordinary manner by elevating the bodyand the loader replaced and reconnected to receive a subsequent load.

' It will be appreciated that the conveyors may take any suitable form,and that their drive may be accomplished in various ways, either fromthe truck engine through the power take-off shown, or by means of asmall independent engine mounted either on the truck or on the loader.The foregoing description is specifically directed to a preferredembodiment of the invention, and numercomprising, a loader body, apaddle-type elevating conveyor disposed in said loader body, a screwconveyor having a tunnel extending from front to rear of said loaderbody and opening at the front into registry with said loading port, saidtunnel being open at the top to receive material from said paddleconveyor and having a perforate bottom whereby liquid may be drainedfrom material discharged into said screw conveyor, a drive shaftextending through the lower portion of said body, chain drive means forsaid paddle-type conveyor, and for said screw conveyor both operatingfrom said drive shaft. and a loading chute for said paddle-typeelevating conveyor formed in said loader body adjacent the lower portionthereof.

2. A removable loader attachment for a truck having a rear loading portand an otherwise closed body comprising, a loader body, a paddle-typeelevating conveyor disposed in said loader body, a screw conveyor havinga tunnel extending from front to rear of said loader body and opening atthe front into registry with said loading port, said tunnel being openat the top to receive material from said paddle conveyor and having aperforate bottom whereby liquid may be drained from material dischargedinto said screw conveyor, drive means for said paddle-type conveyor andfor said screw conveyor, and a loading chute for said paddle-typeelevating conveyor formed in said loader body adjacent the lower portionthereof.

3. A removable loader attachment for a truck having a rear loading portand an otherwise closed body comprising, a loader body, an elevatingconveyor disposed in said loader body, a screw conveyor having a tunnelin registry with said loading port, said tunnel being open at the top toreceive material from the elevating conveyor and having a perforatebottom whereby liquid may be drained from material discharged into saidscrew conveyor, a drive shaft extending through the body, drive meansfor said elevating conveyor and for said screw conveyor both operatingfrom said drive shaft, and a loading chute for said elevating conveyorformed in said loader body adjacent the lower portion thereof.

4. A removable loader attachment for a truck comprising, a body, anelevating conveyor disposed in said body, a loading chute for theelevating conveyor adjacent the lower portion thereof, a tunnel memberin the body in open connection with the truck and having an opening inthe top to receive material from the elevating conveyor, a screwconveyor in the tunnel member for moving material through the tunnelinto the truck, perforate means in the bottom of the tunnel member fordraining liquid from the material passing through the tunnel, a driveshaft, and means connected to the drive shaft for operating bothconveyors.

5. A removable loader attachment for a truck having a rear loading portand an otherwise closed body comprising, a loader body, an elevatingconveyor disposed in said loader body, a screw conveyor having a tunnelin registry with said loading port, said tunnel being open at the top toreceive material from the elevating conveyor, 2. drive shaft extendingthrough the body, drive means for said elevating conveyor and for saidscrew conveyor both operating from said drive shaft, and a loading chutefor said elevating conveyor formed in said loader body adjacent thelower portion thereof.

FRED BISZANTZ. ARTHUR H. RUTH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,224,290 Eiermann May 1, 19171,758,943 Gray May 20, 1930 1,841,525 Evensen Jan. 19, 1932 1,881,143Smith Oct. 4, 1932 2,020,231 Bell Nov. 5, 1935 2,393,732 Balbi Jan. 29,1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 745,144 France Feb. 7, 1933

